Supporting Notes for Teachers  KS1 and lower KS2 



Outline: 
This session blends local history and geography with art to form a session based around map skills. Pupils will 
investigate large child-friendly maps of Wandsworth past and present, and hear exciting stories from the Wandsworth 
area. They will go on to discuss and create a map of what they think Wandsworth could look like 100 years into the 
future. 
PrOgramme DuratiOn: 1.5 hours 
links with units Of stuDy: 
This session has been developed in support of Key Stage 1 and early Key Stage 2 areas within the History, 
Geography and Art topics: 
 National Curriculum Areas: Art and Design, Design and Technology, Geography, History, Local Studies 
 QCA Art and Design: Unit 2C Can buildings speak? 
 QCA Design and Technology: Unit 1D: Homes. 
 QCA History: Unit 2: What were homes like a long time ago? 
 QCA Geography: Unit 1. Around our school - the local area. 
 QCA Geography: Unit 9. Village Settlers. 
NB: With prior notice this session can be adapted to reflect one of the above units of study more heavily than the 
others to make the session as relevant as possible. Please contact us if you think we could relate this session to 
other elements that your pupils are studying in school. 
Village inVentors 
Pre-Workshop Information 

Supporting Notes for Teachers  KS1 and lower KS2 



aims anD learning Objectives: 

The session will provide children with the opportunities to: 

 
explore maps of an area close to their school 
 
develop their map skills by identifying key features 
 
use their speaking and listening skills and practice their ability to share and take turns 
 
develop their understanding of the passing of time in one locality 
 
develop their vocabulary relating to the passing of time, housing and natural features 
 
contribute individually to a whole class project 
 
develop their creative skills by designing their map of Future Wandsworth 
what we exPect: 

 
Children will enjoy learning about their local area and making their own map of Future Wandsworth. 
 
Children will have increased awareness of the role they play in the future of the area. 
 
While Museum education staff will run the session, support from school staff and accompanying adults is required in 
order to minimise the risks involved with the session items, enforce the schools behaviour policy and ensure 
artefacts are handled appropriately. 

 
Your institution will reimburse the museum for the cost of any item/items that needs to be replaced through 
inappropriate behaviour during the programme. 



Supporting Notes for Teachers  KS1 and lower KS2 



histOry 

 
Ask children to think about the house they live in and the places they visit in the local area. Students can look at 
photographs or paintings of different buildings and natural features around where they live and list similarities and 

 differences between the Wandsworth of the past and the Wandsworth of today. 

geOgraPhy 

 
Discuss with students how do we read maps? Introduce some key symbols. 
 
Discuss with students the factors that make somewhere a good place to live (Green space, good transport, schools, 
plentiful housing, hospitals etc.) versus a bad place to live (Bad transport, not enough schools, housing and hospitals. 
Dirty and polluted landscape). 
 
What do students like about their local area and what could be improved? 
art 

 
Draw a picture of their house 100 years in the future. How might it have changed? 
We look forward to welcoming you to the Museum in the near future. 
Please contact us if you have any further queries or questions regarding your booking by calling 0208 8706060 or by 


emailing bookings@wandsworthmuseum.co.uk 

Thank you for choosing to visit Wandsworth Museum 

Pre-Session Activity Ideas 

Supporting Notes for Teachers  KS1 and lower KS2 



Post-Session Activity Ideas 
This resource pack is designed to support you and your pupils after participation in the Mapping the Centuries 

workshop. 

It contains some post workshop activity suggestions and background information about some of the topics featured 

in the workshop and the local area. The activities are arranged by the following themes: 

 Follow-up Ideas 
 MappIng wandsworth 
 natural landMarks 
 Cultural landMarks 
 storIes and events 
The suggested activities are listed at the beginning of this pack, with supporting resources and 
documentation in later sections. 

Please feel free to contact us should you have any further enquiries about the content of this resource pack in 

relation to the themes addressed in this workshop. 


Supporting Notes for Teachers  KS1 and lower KS2 



Follow-up Ideas 

 
Finish off your Wandsworth map  you could paint the river or collage it with shiny paper. Add boats, buses, 
photos of yourselves and your school. Send a photo of your completed panorama to us when youve finished. 
Wed love to see it and put it on display! 

 Make model buildings to go on your map. Investigate your school building and how the building has changed 
over time. 

 
Create your own Mapping the Centuries Gallery in your classroom by using pictures you took in the session. 
Bring in pictures of Wandsworth, your own homes and objects to add to the display. 
maPPing wanDswOrth 

 Look at the 3 Wandsworth maps 
What do these symbols mean? 

What do these short words stand for? 

SCH 
HOSPL 
RECN GD

 Why are some parts of the maps green?

 What are the yellow lines on the map? Why are there yellow, red, orange and white lines? 

 When you look at the maps, can you find: 
Something which has NOT changed in the three maps? 
Things which have changed in the maps? 
Your school? 
Where you live? 


 When you look at the maps: 
Has the amount of green changed? Can you explain why? 
Has the amount of roads changed? Can you explain why? 
Have the squiggly blue parts changed? Can you explain why? 
Have any names of places changed? 




Supporting Notes for Teachers  KS1 and lower KS2 



MappIng wandsworth - resourCes 

mODern OrDnance survey maP 

Themes include, roads, tubes, parks and homes 



Supporting Notes for Teachers  KS1 and lower KS2 



stanfOrDs 1880 maP 

Themes include, land use, industry, railways and roads 



Supporting Notes for Teachers  KS1 and lower KS2 



rOcques 1760 maP 

Themes include, buildings, transport, land use and place names 



Supporting Notes for Teachers  KS1 and lower KS2 



MappIng wandsworth - BaCkground InForMatIon 

OrDnance survey: The first map in the workshop shows Wandsworth as it appears today. It shows the first Arndale 
development in the country but shows no signs of the Greyhound Track that had been there previously. It illustrates 
the effect of the Underground system on the area but will soon be out of date if the Northern Line is extended to Nine 
Elms to accommodate the development of Battersea Power Station. 

stanfOrD maP: The second map shown to the students was produced in 1880. The population of Wandsworth had 

grown from 28,000 in 1851 to 92,000 and the land was being increasingly used for housing. People flocked to the 
area because local industries provided the potential for employment. Charles Booths map of London through 
categories of wealth in 1898 showed that to the east of the borough people tended to be fairly comfortable while 
residents to the west were more likely to be well-to-do. Poorer areas tended to be along the Thames, grouped 

around the railway or along the Wandle valley. 

rOques maP: The final map shown to the students is of the borough in 1760. It shows that the majority of land was 
being used for agriculture. Crops included oats, wheat, rye and barley although there would have also have been land 
dedicated to cattle. This map shows a large field running the length of West Hill, sitting south of the road 
illustrating the origin of the name Southfields. It shows the location of the current museum on the edge of North Field. 

At the time of this map the landscape of the borough was dominated by mills, particularly around the area that now 
contains Southside shopping centre and associated development. 

Overall the three maps act as a clear testament to just how much the borough has changed in the last 250 
years. The contrast between Roques map and the modern maps illustrates issues of green spaces, 
sustainability and protecting the environment. 



Supporting Notes for Teachers  KS1 and lower KS2 



natural lanDmarks 
the river wanDle 
The River Wandle runs from the Thames right through the borough of Wandsworth. 
Over the years the Wandle got very polluted and its fish died off. In recent years local community groups and schools 
cleared litter and pollution from the riverbanks and restored fish stocks. 
Now trout and other fish are starting to live in the Wandle again. 
In May 2011The Wandle Trust decided to do a clean-up of the River Wandle in Earlsfield. In 1 day they found:  15 
shopping trolleys (mostly Sainsburys),12 bicycles, 9 carpets, 9 plastic sheets, 7 assorted toy cars, trucks and action 
figures, 5 traffic cones, 3 suitcases, 2 mattresses, 2 vacuum cleaners, 2 safes, 1 balaclava 
1 pallet, 22 tyres, 1 kids swing, 1 car door, 1 chair , 1 inner tube, 1 washing machine, 1 garden hose,1 warning lamp, 
1 roll of linoleum....and more than 20 bags of other unidentifiable litter!!!!!!!!!! 
Further Ideas and Activities 
The Wandle River: Recycling: Look at all the material which was taken from the Wandle River in a single day! Apart 
from harming plants and animals in and around the river, many of these items could be recycled to help the 
environment. 
Discuss how the Wandle wildlife has been affected by pollution.[e.g. environmental issues; pollution, plastic bags, river 
choked with rubbish, destruction of river banks]. Draw your impression of what this pollution does. 
How can we help to protect the Wandle from these dangers? 
What would happen if all the plants in the Wandle died from pollution? 
[Hint: think of the effect on the insects, the fish, the birds& animals and the river itself] 
Draw your favourite Wandle inhabitant (plant, bird, insect, fish or animal) 

Supporting Notes for Teachers  KS1 and lower KS2 



Putney heath 


Putney Heath is part of the Commons which also contains Putney Lower Common and Wimbledon Common. 

Putney Heath is visible on the three maps we used. However, it could easily have disappeared from the map in the 

1860s. 
In 1864, Earl Spencer, the Lord of the Manor of Wimbledon, planned to enclose 700 acres of the common as a park 
and sell the remaining 300 or so acres as building land. 
A Wimbledon Common Committee was set up to save the Commons. They were charged with the duty of keeping the 
Commons open, unenclosed and undeveloped and their natural aspect preserved. The Conservators continue this 

work today. 

The Commons are the home to a wide variety of bird, animal and plant life. Being an unfenced Common, the whole 
area is open to the public 24 hours a day throughout the year. 
For the list of wildlife recorded at Putney Heath in 2010, see http://www.wpcc.org.uk/natural_history.html 

Further Ideas and Activities 

Why is it important to have open green spaces in a city like London? 
What activities and events take place in Putney Heath? 

In Putney Heath 99 species of birds, 22 species of mammals, 3 species of amphibians, 3 species of reptiles and 12 
species of fish have been found. How many can you name? 


Supporting Notes for Teachers  KS1 and lower KS2 



cultural lanDmarks resOurces: 

battersea POwer statiOn 

Battersea Power Station was considered both cutting edge and controversial when it was opened in June 1933. 
Papers at the time reported It will be the largest unit which has been installed in Great Britain or the Continent. 
It ran for just 42 years after concerns over pollution and changes in the governmental approach to energy generation 
led to its closure in 1975. With plans for redevelopment the building remains an iconic landmark of London. 


Further Ideas and Activities 

Would a power station like Battersea Power Station be built today? 
What alternative energy sources can we use today? 

sOuthsiDe shOPPing centre 


Southside shopping centre is built on top of the River Wandle. It was once the Wandsworth Greyhound Stadium and 

before that it was a mill. 

Further Ideas and Activities 

The shopping centre site has a long history, discuss what it might contain in the future! 

Draw what you think it could be or make your own model. You may find the following website useful: 

www.greatbuildings.com 


Supporting Notes for Teachers  KS1 and lower KS2 



stOries anD events 

Mapping Wandsworth would not be complete without remembering some famous stories from the past. Take a little 

time to act out the events in the resource section. These events actually happened in days gone by! 

You might like to go and see where they really took place! 

tightrOPe walker at the river thames 

This is a picture of a woman called Madam Genevieve. She tried 
to walk across the Thames on a tightrope in 1861. She started at 
Cremorne Gardens, heading towards Battersea, watched by the 

gathering crowds 

Unfortunately she fell off when her tight-rope began to collapse 
and broke her leg! She was called The Female Blondin after the 
famous French circus tightrope walker Blondin. 


The first Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race started at Putney 
Bridge in 1829 when two friends challenged each other to a race. 
It has continued ever since. 


Before 1846, Battersea Park was called Battersea Fields. 
It was a popular place to fight duels. 
A duel was a way to sort out an argument by each man firing a 


pistol at the other. 

This cartoon shows the Duke of Wellington, a famous military 
man, and Prime Minister shooting at his opponent in 1829. 
Luckily, they both missed each other! 

We very much hope you enjoyed the workshop and we would be very grateful to hear your views on this or 
other elements of the educational services of the Museum. If you have any comments or concerns that have 
not been addressed in our evaluation, please contact us at educator@wandsworthmuseum.co.uk 


bOat race at Putney briDge 


Duel in battersea fielDs 



